Alex Oloo, the Head of Design at Absa, was a guest speaker at the UX South Africa Conference. Coincidentally, his brother and our co-host  Alfi sat down with him for a short chat about the contents of his talk on design leadership. Alex shares how he has adapted his style to suit the new norm of business and working from home in the post-covid era, as well as respecting employees as individuals outside of their job. Alex, a frequent speaker, also shares his unique way of how he plans for his presentations and how he uses his natural flow of speech to riff off of a rough idea. Alex also gives some advice for aspiring designers - to create a reading habit.   

Alex’s book recommendations: “About Face: The essentials of Interaction Design” by Alan Cooper; and “The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You” by Julie Zhou.